Penn State’s last six games didn’t matter.
Its first three games were just the preseason.
Forget what anyone said. Forget what I said. They didn’t count. They never mattered.
Penn State wasn’t playing for anything then. Now, it’s playing for the one thing that matters most.
It’s Land Grant Trophy week.
“It’s very important that we maintain control of the Land Grant Trophy,” interim head coach Terry Smith said on Wednesday night.
He’s right. In fact, he’s so right that Pat Kraft should consider ripping off the interim tag just for that answer.
It is very important that Penn State keep control of the 70-pound box that likely once housed a speaker that exclusively played White Snake, Poison and Eddie Money. It’s the trophy that – unlike the SEC which knows no beauty like the LGT – just means more in part because it weighs more.
I have never personally smelled the Land Grant Trophy but if I did, I would have to imagine it smells like cigar smoke and Burt Reynolds’ mustache.
It’s an ornate hunk of wood that has become an icon.
Why?
Do not ask why.
Instead, embrace the beauty that is the only trophy made from someone’s 80s basement paneling because the government’s PSAs telling everyone to reduce, reuse and recycle actually worked on someone.
(The actual origin story of the Land Grant Trophy is just as fantastic as the mythology we’ve all collectively built out around.)
Penn State and Michigan State’s rivalry has never, and likely will never, reach the nastiness that Ohio State and Michigan have.
And that’s OK. Penn State has quite literally built an entire marketing slogan around the idea of not having a true rival.
I’m fine with that. You should be too.
At the end of the day, Penn State and Michigan State – besides being two schools that benefited from Abraham Lincoln signing the Morrill-Land Grant Act in 1862 – don’t need hatred for each other. Instead, the Nittany Lions and Spartans benefit from the common bond of a gorgeous trophy that is roughly the same size as a 5-year-old.
It’s a true gift to both fan bases that should not – much like the trophy – be taken lightly. It’s legitimately nice to see that Penn State has started to treat the trophy with some reverence – unlike it used to. There is a small point of pride – polar opposite from the trophy’s size– that should be taken in trying to keep this trophy.
Some of that is from the fact that the trophy has finally started to get its moment in the sun – even when, at this point of the year, it’s dark more often than not in East Lansing and State College. It’s time too. College football is meant to be fun. Throwing tortillas on the field, taking your shoe off a kickoff and tossing toilet paper over a tree after you win is a part of the process that makes this sport what it is. The Land Grant Trophy, and celebrating it, is our little slice of that fun.
I do, however, have to imagine it is not fun to wheel that trophy out on a dolly. And I am 100 percent confident that I would have a difficult time picking that up myself. But that’s not the point here.
What I can do, however, is stop and appreciate the opportunity Penn State has in front of itself in East Lansing on Saturday.
Defending the Land Grant Trophy in the biggest game (of the week)(for Penn State and Michigan State).
It’s Land Grant Trophy week. This one actually matters.
vs 
Time: 3:30 p.m.
TV: CBS
Announcers: Brad Nessler, Gary Danielson and Jenny Dell
Radio: Penn State Sports Network
Announcers: Steve Jones, Jack Ham, Brian Tripp
